December 28th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Hitori
A friend said to me, if she had a choice, she would live in her mom’s basement the rest of her life; surfing through the internet, flipping books on techie stuffs and be a super nerd. She told me when she was much younger, she used to loiter around town by herself, sat at one corner and observed people. She could even eat alone in restaurants. Naah.. unfortunately, she is too pretty to be living in her mom’s basement and got married instead! Haha!
When it comes to shopping, I usually do it alone. I prefer to take my time to browse through things I want to buy and not worried where my friends would be. And I don’t think I have enough patience to shop with others. For example, I simply couldn’t tolerate people who is torn between a black or brown purse and took the entire hour just flipping the same thing over and over again. Or worse, people who negotiated a bargain and then decided not to buy anything.
I thought of my college days. I remember once, I was overstressed with studies that I need to get movie fix. In that week alone, I watched 3 movies – one with friends and two movies alone. From that day onwards, I think I could do movies alone and sometimes, whenever I was on leave, I would just go to a cinema and buy a ticket. Once, since a friend stood me up last minute, I went on ahead and watched Armageddon at the now-defunct rat infested Rex Cinema in Petaling Street.
Yesterday, while waiting for a friend to catch a movie together, I was loitering in KLCC alone. I didn’t want to have dinner at first. But since the stomach grumbled till no end, I relented. I had the nice lam mee from the Noodles shop on the top floor of KLCC. As I was walking through the food court, I saw a few ladies having dinner alone themselves. When I chose a spot to plunk my ass, there was a lady sitting right across me. She was also dining alone. At first, I was tempted to sit with her and strike a conversation but it would make her think I am a bloody maniac (and probably confirm I am a lesbian), given the current circumstances where any act of strangers are deemed malicious.
I recollect memories of yesteryears with fondness where we could simply strike up conversation without worrying the other party having malicious thoughts. I remembered once after college, I went to White Castle to have a meal and there was another lady eating alone. We just smiled at each other and sat together and had the longest conversation. Those were the days.
I always had lunch alone when I was in college, usually a quick bite of tuna croissant with coffee at Meidi-ya before attending classes and going for a swim at Bukit Jalil swimming pool right after college. I did this all by myself.
I miss the old days of doing everything alone and not being afraid at all.
*Hitori means alone in Japanese